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Naperville triathlon helps women find healthy selves

Women hear health tips all the time.

Get outside! Stay active! Make exercise a daily ritual!

And the big one: Don't always put others first - take time to care for yourself, too!

Janet Kraft, 60, of Naperville has heard these tips for years. Only now, as a soon-to-be first-time triathlete, she's living them.

She works out daily at a fitness center, adds extra walks or runs when she can and even completed eight weeks of swimming lessons.

Now, with the encouragement of her two daughters - who also will be racing come Sunday - Kraft says she's ready to do her best in the Gildan Esprit de She Naperville Triathlon, a women-only event set to start at 7 a.m. at Centennial Beach.

"It's empowering, it's fun and it's something you'll be proud of yourself for doing," Kraft said about the three-sport race, her first, which she described as a journey in re-finding herself, together with her daughters. "This is going to help us find 'us' or keep 'us.'"

Kraft and her daughters, 32-year-old Mary Beth Mulholland and 20-year-old Emily Kraft, will be among roughly 2,000 women expected to participate in the annual race.

Organizers say the event is a focus of wellness plans for many participants, who make positive lifestyle changes as they prepare for the half-mile swim, 13.3-mile bike ride and 3.1-mile run.

It's also promoted as a "designer race experience," featuring fitted women's gear in swag bags and a "lifestyle market" at the finish with music, fresh produce, local artisans, creative projects and tapas to refuel.

Every summer, the race draws novice triathletes like Kraft and experienced ones like Martha Trantow, 70, of River Forest. Trantow has been competing in triathlons for the past 13 years, and she's hoping her seniority will earn her a well-deserved recognition someday: Oldest participant.

At last year's Esprit de She race in Naperville, Trantow said she scoped out the required markings on the legs of other racers, which designate their age so race officials know which category they're competing in. She determined she wasn't the oldest - yet. There were three other triathletes her senior.

"I'm not necessarily a fast runner. I'll never win a competition," Trantow said. "But I want to be the oldest."

Trantow has always been someone who follows those oh-so-common health tips to stay active. She says her parents, who loved swimming and tennis, instilled in her an athletic personality, and her husband, who's always enjoyed running, encouraged her to keep it up.

The family's summer home in Michigan offers a great place to swim, water ski, walk or do water aerobics. And when Trantow is back home in the suburbs, she runs, speedwalks, lifts weights and does Pilates, dance classes and sessions on the elliptical machine.

"Athletics can be a fun and invigorating way to keep you healthier," Trantow said. "That's a good thing."

The race and post-race celebration are expected to last from 7 to 11 a.m. Streets, including Jackson, Jefferson and Aurora avenues, Rickert Drive, Hillside and Webster roads and West and Webster streets, will be closed for the biking and running courses.

For triathletes like Kraft, who are making the race a family event, the best part will be sharing the same finish line - no matter the time.

"I'm really honored that my daughters could see it in me to do it," Kraft said. "We're all pushing ourselves."

Women to 'test their limits' at Naperville triathlon'

Naperville triathlon guides fitness journey for women

The Gildan Esprit de She Naperville Triathlon will be a family activity for some participants, as they're set to finish the course with a 3.1-mile run Sunday morning. Daily Herald file photo 2014
Centennial Beach will be full of women swimming at 7 a.m. Sunday as the annual Gildan Esprit de She Naperville Triathlon starts its first leg with a half-mile course through the water. Daily Herald file photo 2013

If you go

What: Gildan Esprit de She Naperville Triathlon

When: 7 a.m. Sunday

Where: Swim at Centennial Beach, 500 Jackson Ave.; bike and run courses near downtown Naperville

Who: Hundreds of female athletes of all ages

Cost: $100 for sprint triathlon; $140 for sprint triathlon relay team of three

Info: <a href="http://espritdeshe.com/naperville-il/">http://espritdeshe.com/naperville-il/</a>

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